Lost in translation – Andy Ward interview

Former Ulster Rugby player Andy Ward revealed who on the Antrim team he has trouble understanding

Despite being an adoptive Irish man for almost two decades, Andy Ward’s New Zealand accent remains as strong as ever. Surely there were communication difficulties with the Antrim squad then.

Was a translator required for Ward to help him overcome the language barriers?

“Tony Scullion is the only one I have a problem with actually! I’ve been here about 18 years, and  when I first came over, I found myself asking everyone to repeat themselves because I struggled to understand.

“It was like going back 18 years whenever Tony turned up. He’s a good lad though, a little rocket and we have great craic. Luckily there are no speech bubbles or subtitles required.”

Gaelic football has faced serious criticism in recent years for the negative approach teams are taking to the game, where the defensive mindset is paramount and restricting the opposition seems more important than scoring yourself.

However, Ward has a very different attitude about how the game should be played.

“It’s all about scoring. At the end of the day you’ve got to go forwards… you can’t sit back and wait for it. A game of football can get away from you in the space of just three or four minutes.

“It has happened Antrim a few games this year where they have come out of the blocks exceptionally slow, and spending the rest of the 70 minutes trying to get the game back, and they can’t because teams do their defensive thing.”

The full story is in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published Thursday April 12. Buy your copy now in your local newsagent, or online by clicking the subscribe button on this page